The central plot of Mobile Suit Gundam is fairly simple, laying out a brutal war between two sides: the Earth Federation and the Principality of Zeon. Amuro Ray, our main character, gets involved in the conflict by boarding the Federation's great weapon, Gundam (I'm not gonna explain details because then it defeats the purpose of watching for yourself.) Long story short, he becomes the Gundam's pilot and a valuable member of the Federation crew that works aboard White Base (a war spaceship.) Now what makes this great is the fact that everybody aboard White Base, from the Commander of it to Amuro, is a total novice with little to no experience. Over the course of the series we get to see their development together as well as individuals. The tale is filled with elements of stuff like death, killing, family, friendships, etc., all building up to a spectacular finale. Our story of course focuses primarily on the White Base gang and their adventure, but it does a good job at also centering in on the opposing side at the right times and giving insight to their side of the battle. Also, just to add, the pacing is exceptionally good.
The series is from 1979, so do not expect top-notch animation by today's standards. I'm sure it was five star art in its time, but I simply rated it a 6 by today's standards. Don't let that turn you off though. The sound is obviously old as well, so the sound effects have that old recording sound that really doesn't stand up to today's sound quality, so again the 8 is by today's standards. But again, give it a chance because it's actually pretty cool. As for the opening and ending themes, they're just kinda fun songs that, as you'll see, are for the purpose of Mobile Suit Gundam alone. The background music actually consists of some pretty interesting and catchy tunes that couldn't fit the show better. They're different than a lot of the stuff you hear in today's anime.
Now for Characters. As I've said, they're all amateurs. A lot of the characters aboard White Base go through tragedies that bring out great development. Some of them have hidden secrets and relations, some of them fall in battle, some of them leave White Base, and many other things. There's plenty for you to discover about our crew as you go through the series.
Enjoyment is definitely at its best. The father of mecha, Mobile Suit Gundam, sure doesn't lack in its action. We have a nice variety of different Mobile Suits on both warring sides to switch things up, and the Gundam itself is very entertaining to watch because it has a large array of weaponry. Also, a battle takes place in just about every place you could think of: space, land, sky, underwater, underground, and even inside White Base itself. The enjoyment factor does not disappoint, and always entertains your eyes with superb military brawls between mechas, and even hand-to-hand combat.
Obviously there's some contrasting opinions on this series and its status concerning its rating. However, I truly feel it is worth a shot from any anime fan, just because it is a classic title that has had such influence on anime and the mecha genre especially.
